Oblique door-latch



. UNITED sTATEs .PATENT OFFIOE.

ROBERT T. FRY, OF SPRING GARDEN, PENNSYLVANIA.

OBLIQUE DOOR-LATCH.

Specification of Letters Patent No, 5,984, dated December 26, 1848.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT T. FRY, of the district of Spring Garden, county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Oblique Door- Latch; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1, is a perspective view of a door and its frame, with the latch attached and Fig. 2, is a section through the latch, the oblique catch, the spring. and its containing cylindrical support, and holding disk.

The object of my invention is to fasten doors, shutters, blinds, &c., either open or closed, subject to being moved simply by pulling or pushing the door &c., without applying the hand or other partof the body directly to the latch or catch. I also intend to effect the purpose just stated without involving the action of any mechanical or other means constantly tending to bring the door to a close, as in the case of springs, or of inclined hinges which elevate the door &c., as it opens, and which devices, I am aware, have been often applied; but as these involve the inconvenience vof using a'constant effort to keep the door in any position between wide-open and closely shut, I have sought to avoid the const-rain put upon a door &c. either in the intermediate points or in the open and closed positions.

My machine is a door holder, intended to retain the hinged door, blind, shutter, lid &c., in the position given by the operator. It is different from other latches in not being designed to fasten or constrain immovably the door, &c., until the application of the hand of the operator lifts the latch itself or otherwise puts it in motion; but it keeps the door just where the operator places it after 'a pull or a push upon the door itself either with his hand or any other part of his body.

The manner 1n which I effect the purposes herein stated, admits of several modified forms of apparatus or machinery, as will be more fully stated in this specication, but the form whichI generally prefer is that shown in the drawings Figs. 1 andl 2. I), Fig. l, is the door represented as closed and held together by a latchv Z near the top and by the oblique spring catch A, the sloping edge a, and b, being supportedby the disk d attached to the door frame and protected by the tube e having a slot in the lower side in which the oblique catch works between two wings of metal. By pulling the knob K the latch Z acting on the Obliquepart b of the catch causes the spring to'be compressed and the catch to rise, the door being opened without touching the latch. When the door D is swung back against the partition P either the latch Z may pass under another oblique catch near the top of the partition or the hook h maylatch upon an oblique catch at B, near the bottom. I do notA confine myself to any particular part of the door or v frame or partition on which to'attach the oblique catch.

' In Fig. 2, the section shows thev action of the spring fr, keeping down the oblique catch, and arm c against the lower part of the disk d, p is thepin or pivot on which the oblique catch moves.

I claima The double oblique catch or holder acted upon ,by a spring in combination with the latch hook, or the edge of a door, shutter, or other hinged article constructed and operating in the manner and for the purposes substantially as herein set forth not intending o in these claims to restrict myself to the arrangements herein described but to vary the same at pleasure while I attain the samev ends by means substantially the same.

ROBERT T. FRY. 

